i have a '97 lumina and my fuel gage fluctuates by about a 1/4 tank or so when i drive it. it's difficult to know just how much gas is in my car. how do i fix this?

Might be a bad sending unit, dash guage, or wiring. The dash guage is controlled by resistance from the PCM, which gets its signal from the in-tank sending unit.

Does the guage fluctuate about the same level (i.e. does it run from 1/4 to 1/2 tank all the time) or does it just fluctuate 1/4 based on how much gas is in it? If the former, I'm thinking bad sending unit, but the latter could indicate a corroded/shorted wire too.

it fluctuates depending on how much gas is in it, though it moves around the most between 1/4 tank and empty. any more suggestions?

My next best guess is the sending unit is packing up to go south. Its a variable resistor, and as the points move along a bar the resistance changes (further down the line, more resistance; closer to the source, resistance is low), these points/tabs/bars/whatever you want to call them wear out eventually from the movement of the float. Its a $400 part IIRC, and is the pump and sending unit combined.

ouch, more expensive repairs... i had to have the brakes completely replaced and the heater totally broke and that totaled up to like $1000 already. thanks for ur help tho! also, there's this piece of plastic or something that got stuck in my defroster, i believe from the last time i took my car in to get repaired since i don't keep anything on my dash. it's extremely loud/annoying and sometimes interferes with it being able to function when i'm trying to run my defroster, which is every day since i have to park outside in wisconsin. any ideas on how i can get that piece of plastic out of there?

My 98 Lumina gas gauge has always fluctuated, especially under 1/4 tank. I find that I always have significantly more gas than the gauge says. I think it is a common Lumina issue and probably better to live with it.

yeah i don't think i'm going to fix it, too much money.

My guage doesn't fluctuate, but if I go by the guage, I get about 12 MPG highway ;P

The plastic defrost vent just pops up with gentle prying from a screwdriver. I popped mine up to get rid of the ever-annoying DRL/ambient light sensor.

please explain more about that removal of the annoying drl sensor. I would like to be able to controll my own lights, and have the daytime running lights off durning the day. Maybe your familiar with them, they are just the high beams with lower amperage going to them, so they arent as bright. How do I completely turn them off during normal sunny days? Any way at all?

I just pulled the fuse, then I took and shorted the sensor connection so if I want DRL I put the fuse back in w/out the automatic headlight feature.

I was working on installing a switch in the glovebox for a while but I quit 'coz of school and work and all that rot...

i actually found a way to turn them off without pulling fuses (i'm super car challenged...i had to have someone show me how to pop the hood cuz i couldn't find the switch thing). ya know the little knob that u can turn that supposedly adjusts the lights that's to the left of the wheel. if you turn it almost to lights on, there's a little spot there where it stays and the lights are off. it helps if you pull up to a garage door or something so u can watch for where it is that the lights turn off. works for me!